


Not a Date

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [3]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: First non-date, Smitten Jamie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 01:51:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14631591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: They were supposed to go on a date and now they're on a "doesn't count as a real date"...but it sort of is.





	Not a Date

                                                               [](http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/animals-and-attractions/animals/giant-panda/)

He’d called her to ask her on a date. She’d said, hesitantly, that she thought it might be fun, yes. Actually she’d probably _giggled_ and answered the affirmative before she even thought about it. She was thrilled that Jamie had called her. He called back no more than twenty minutes later and her heart plummeted as she read his name on the screen of her phone.

 _Would he really call back to cancel our first date? And after only a few minutes?_ She didn’t honestly think he would. Claire had a strange sense of assurance that, though she’d known him only briefly, Jamie was in her life to stay. But she didn’t have evidence to support that conclusion yet and she was basically a bloody scientist! Nurses were level-headed and logical! So she answered the phone and steeled herself to gather the necessary data.

“Oh, um, Sassenach?” Jamie rushed a bit sounding nervous.

“Yes?” Did she sound giddy? Disappointed already? She didn’t mean to sound anything but thoughtful and logical. They were just making and establishing plans. “What is it Jamie?” This time, Claire made sure that her voice was steady and calm. Well, it probably was. Calm _er_.

“Something has come up.”

She knew it. He was calling to cancel.

“Jenny called and asked me, nay, begged me, to watch wee Jamie on the day we planned our date and since I really didna want to cancel on ye, I wondered if ye might come to the zoo wi’ us instead?” He sounded so intent on making sure she knew he didn’t want to miss out on spending time with her. “I ken it isna a date if we have the lad wi’ us, but I’d still like to get to know who ye really are. To spend time wi’ ye.”

She was squealing internally. He wasn’t cancelling, he was including her in the necessitated change of plans. He was including her in his family. Claire almost forgot to speak until his voice brought her back to reality.

“Sassenach?”

He sounded so tender when he spoke like that and she couldn’t possibly say no. She didn’t want to anyway.

“I’d love to go to the zoo with my two favorite Jamies.” The smile that split her face was so broad it made her cheeks ache.

* * *

“Up!” the little boy held his arms out to Claire. “Upupup!” He continued insistently.

They’d been walking about the zoo all morning long. They had seen several exhibits so far but they’d all had their own favorites for varying reasons. Claire had loved the penguins finding the way they walked and waddled absolutely charming. Wee Jamie had been completely enthralled watching the Oriental Short-Clawed Otters. They sliced through the water, twisting and turning in nearly hypnotic motion that had him vacillating between a trance-like state of fascinated observation and hysterical laughter in turn. Her Jamie (she didn’t know when she’d begun calling him that in her thoughts) had been captivated by the pandas. They were the only giant pandas in the UK. Seeing them was a treat, but watching him hold his nephew up so the little boy could see, watching her Jamie’s eyes light up and the edges of them crinkle when he laughed made her stomach flutter with happiness.

“Up!” wee Jamie impatiently tried again, rolling up on his toes and back down again. Claire bent to pick him up and hold him close in her arms. She knew that the little boy was getting tired and hungry and Jamie had already suggested that they stop for lunch, which prompted their visit to the food court, and then head home.

They found seats in the food court and Claire sat with young Jamie on her lap while his uncle ordered lunch for them all. She basked in the cozy feeling of holding a toddler snuggled close while waiting contentedly for their meal.

Across the space sat an elderly couple finishing their meal, casting looks at one another that teenagers in high school, newly infatuated with one another might shoot in one another’s directions. They cleaned up the remnants of the meal putting trash in its place, finishing off a last bite, and taking a sip of soda. Then, the stooped gentleman pulled out the chair for his wife and offered her his hand as she rose unsteadily to her feet. They turned as one without requiring any conversation at all, seemingly of one mind, and moved toward Jamie and Claire’s table.

“Yer wee lad is a sweet one, aye? All snuggled up to Mam and waiting fer Da,” the couple, still holding hands, stopped at the table where they sat.

“Aye,” Jamie approached from behind with a tray holding their lunch and joined the conversation. “And ‘tis great fun being here and seeing all the animals through the eyes of a child.” He set the tray on the table and rested a hand on Claire’s shoulder. She didn’t know if he’d heard the couple call them wee Jamie’s parents or not. She couldn’t tell if he was playing along for the sake of convenience or if he had just joined the conversation too late to know what was happening. The flutter in her stomach returned anyway. Family. Parents.

“Enjoy them while they’re young,” the elderly gentleman stated simply. “Ye’ve got a lovely wee family.” Then he winked at wee Jamie and left arm in arm with his wife.

Jamie pushed half the food toward Claire and “their” lad who quickly unwound his arms from Claire’s neck and grabbed at the fried and terribly unhealthy yet addictive lunch. He didn’t meet her eyes but spoke quietly. “Ye could have told them he’s my nephew.”

“I know,” she shrugged and paused then turned the statement back on him, not in accusation but in realization. “You could have as well.”

“Aye. Why didn’t you?” He glanced up and met her gaze.

“I don’t mind it at all, them thinking we’re a family,” she whispered. “I didn’t _want_ to tell them, actually,” a small smile adorned her lips. “So, why didn’t _you_ correct them?” she pressed, having revealed a piece of her heart to him along with her answer.

“I kent that sooner or later it would be true. We _will_ be family.”

She reached out and gently linked one of his fingers, covered in crumbs, in her own, a small touch that grounded them.

Sooner or later it _would_ be true.


End file.
